DuncanCunningham wrote:After seeing all of this I feel a little guilty getting $8000 off our 2015 residual last February, over a year before the leased ended. We bought our car for $8960 plus $500 markup for the dealership and the usual fees, taxes etc. So I think it was $9700 in all but at the time you could see listings for 2015 S for about $9000 in our area. I was glad I didn't wait but you never know. By June this year used Leafs might be flooding the market again? But I think general EV acceptance is on the rise and last year the very low price of Nissan leaf got lots of interest.

You really did hit the sweet spot. I think the dealers got tired of being cut out of the deal by NMAC and complained so that's why were in our current situation. Was so much better when the deals were clear and in the open.

Did I mention I hate stealerships?

[s]2015 LEAF SV in Gunmetal Gray[/s] Returned 2/2018"The only gas in this vehicle comes from the driver." I drive a LEAF, it doesn't have Ludicrous or Insane mode. It only has Slightly Annoyed mode.

72andsunny wrote:Has anyone with a low residual value (say $8500 at lease end) managed to negotiate a further discount to purchase it? I’m on the fence...

I think what dealerships do now is that they look at the price of your car then compare that with the market and then either give you a deal if it's worth it to them or take it off your hands and resell it themselves. Either way the dealership gets the dibs on making money or not bothering.

Statler: Wake up you old fool. You slept through the show.Waldorf: Who's a fool? You watched it.

72andsunny wrote:Has anyone with a low residual value (say $8500 at lease end) managed to negotiate a further discount to purchase it? I’m on the fence...

I think what dealerships do now is that they look at the price of your car then compare that with the market and then either give you a deal if it's worth it to them or take it off your hands and resell it themselves. Either way the dealership gets the dibs on making money or not bothering.

You will never know until you try. Times change, conditions change and right now used LEAF values are thru the roof but with 2018's coming available, the used car market will start to drop. But, I have pretty strong evidence that the car's value is preset by NMAC. On my 2013, I received a crazy offer that I tossed because it "seemed" too good to be true. Well, it likely was true, at least in part.

I turned my 2013 in when I picked up my 2016 and 3 days later, my NMAC account received a payment for $400 less than the unbelievable offer I had received 6 months earlier. So I can believe that I now know what the perk to the dealership to sell lease returns but in reality, the dealership made a quick 60% profit because it was gone just over a month later.

The Leaf went back officially today. Had a good experience with AIM on the vehicle inspection last week. No chargeable damage. Inspection took about 10 minutes and the inspector was very professional.

When I took it back to the dealer, the salesperson was very apologetic they couldn't get me a better deal. He actually showed me where NMAC has increased the minimum buyout price to a point where, after adding fees/etc., the buyout will always be above $10k. He said this was the highest minimum buyout they've seen and it has been going up by month. So even if they are reducing residual, it doesn't matter, they won't sell it to you under $10k. This was confirmed by my contact with two other dealers here in the state. I guess they're selling them for more than I'm willing to pay. This 3.5 year old car is not worth $10k in my opinion. In the end, I got to drive it for 3.5 years for a total cost of about $4600/year. Not excellent, but not terrible I guess. If I had financed it, that amount along with the Fed and CO credits would probably have covered the whole note. I still think it's a good car and I'm actually sad to see it go.

Anyway, all that dealer nonsense is just more evidence that I made the correct decision finishing my relationship up with NMAC and Nissan. They can play shady games with other people. I will enjoy driving (mostly) electric in my new Honda Clarity PHEV until an affordable, long-range BEV is finally available. I would also pick up a Clarity BEV if I lived in CA or OR since you can get them on 36mo lease for $199/month with $900 down.

Anyway, best of luck all. I'll check in on the Battery and Charging section from time to time as this was truly the land of pioneers and the stuff there is of great value, historic and current.

[s]2015 LEAF SV in Gunmetal Gray[/s] Returned 2/2018"The only gas in this vehicle comes from the driver." I drive a LEAF, it doesn't have Ludicrous or Insane mode. It only has Slightly Annoyed mode.

AlanSqB wrote: I will enjoy driving (mostly) electric in my new Honda Clarity PHEV until an affordable, long-range BEV is finally available.

I looked up the car -- it looks like a very good choice, and probably better than my Prius Prime depending on actual prices paid.

How far is the 17 kWh battery taking you compared to the LEAF ? Quick arithmetic says that Honda is using some 76% of the battery capacity, which is quite a bit more than the ~ 63% of my Prime. I suppose time will tell if Honda has figured out battery longevity or we get a replay of the battery mess Honda found itself in with hybrids.

If you bought the car, you may wish to consider avoiding use of the bottom 10% of available battery and putting some effort into not letting the battery sit at full charge for long. As a prior LEAF owner you should be well trained

It keeps a "hybrid reserve" at the bottom. It can still run in hybrid vehicle mode even when EV range gets to 0. I will admit to not having figured out all the numbers. There are others on the Clarity forums that are working on those details.

As for my range right now, it's been crappy since it's so freaking cold here (also in CO). I am getting about 33 miles before the engine has to kick in, but I have also been driving "normally" and enjoying full heat and preheating the cabin before every drive, even off the charger. So, I could probably hypermile, etc and get a little more. I'll do some real tests once the temperature gets back to a reasonable level.

Honda still hasn't gotten it 100% right. The Guess-O-Meter on this car is a hot mess. They also haven't given the dealers any chargers. They delivered the car to me with almost no EV range remaining. I had driven it two days before, right off the truck and had used most of the battery range that it was shipped with. Bought it that Saturday night but they couldn't deliver until Monday due to needing to complete the prep. I naively expected that they would at least plug it in for a bit before delivery, but no dice. I told the dealer they really have to get a J1772 installed because the thing is not nearly as fun to drive when the EV battery is out of range. They explained that it had a "full tank" to which i had to roll my eyes. They really broke the bank on the fill of the 7 gallon gas tank. I did get really nice, free, all-weather floor mats though.

On the other hand, the car is super comfortable and really nice inside. It drives really well. It's no Model S, but it's making me very happy. I've just never had a Hybrid, so the dissonance between the expected engine pitch and what it actually makes is still a little odd. Having your engine rev up out of sync with where your foot is on the pedal is like dancing to the wrong music, but I guess I'll get used to it.

In other news, do you still have your Model 3 reservation? Sounds like non-owners are getting orders in now.

[s]2015 LEAF SV in Gunmetal Gray[/s] Returned 2/2018"The only gas in this vehicle comes from the driver." I drive a LEAF, it doesn't have Ludicrous or Insane mode. It only has Slightly Annoyed mode.

AlanSqB wrote:In other news, do you still have your Model 3 reservation? Sounds like non-owners are getting orders in now.

Yup!

I'm set with my current cars so whenever Tesla calls my number I'll sell either my LEAF or the Prime. I'm going to gamble and buy the AWD Model 3 in hopes that it can be a 20 year car.

I don't know anything about the Clarity PHEV but the Prime (and the Volt, IIRC) let you switch to HV mode even if battery charge remains. The car uses the SoC at the time of the switch to HV mode as the baseline for HV mode.